Rail-cleaning machine



A. WETT ERVIK. RAIL CLEANING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29, I920.

Patented Mar. 22, 1921.

- Inventor AxZ Zuett'erW/r witness pair the travel or progressof the car, and it UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AxEL wn'r'rnnvrx, or Inoiv Brynn, MICHIGAN.

nArn-crmivmenacnmn To all whom it may concern Be it known that/I, Axnr. Wnrrnnvrx, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Iron River, in the county of Iron and Stateof Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bail-Cleaning Ma chines, of which the following is a specification. 5

This inventionrelates to improvements in an apparatus to be used in connection with the body and running gear of a car for the purpose of cleaning or removing from the rails of the track, on which the caritravels,

accumulations of dirt, mud, ice,gsnow, sleet and the like, which would impede 0mmconsists in certain peculiarities of the construction, novel arrangement, combination and operation of the various parts thereof as will be'hereinafter more fully set forth and specifically claimed.

The principal ob 'ect of theinvention is to provide a rail cleaning apparatus .or' machine which is applicable for use 1n cleaning the rails of the tracks of street cars or thoseof railways, which shall be simple and inexpensive in construction, strong, durable and effective in use, and which can be readilyjinstalled-upon or applied to cars'of the standard type oreasily removed therefrom.

A further object is to provide a rail cleaning machine of such construction and operation of its parts, that but little, if any, ad-

ditional power, over that used to propel the car to which it is applied, will be rmuired,

and which will so act as to dig up and lift the accumulations, suchas dirt, and ice, on

the inner sides ofthe rails, and at the same time will remove'itfrom and prevent its a novel feature of the invention mounted thereon and showingthe relative position of the supporting frame for the cleaning members with respect to saidwheel.

Specification of Iie tters Patent.

Patented M r. 22, 1921.

Application filed March 29,1920. serial at. 369,623.

1 Fig.3 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows, and

i Fig. 4 is a similar view taken on line -l-.1

"of Fig. l as indicated by the arrows.

Like'numerals of reference refer tocorresponding'parts throughout the different views of the drawing.

The reference numeral 7 designates as a whole the body of a car whichmay be equipped with a truck frame, which is also designated as a whole by the reference numeral 8, of the ordinary or well-known construction and arrangement.

Mounted on an axle 9 near each of its -ends,-whicha'xle may be journalecl on the truck frame 8 in the well known way, is a traction wheel 10 each of whichhas on the inneruside of its periphery a series of radiallydisposed teeth or. cogs'll which take [the placeoftheperipherafflanges on car wheels of theordinary type. Otherwise, the

wheels '10of-my invention are similar to 1 those of the above mentionedcar wheels.

Horizontally secured toIthe lower portion nuts=:12 is a supporting'frame which is designated' as a whole by thenumeral 13 which .fIZLIHB is provided with a longitudinally disposedslot l lffor the reception and operation of'the lower' portion of one of the car or traction wheels 10 as willbe re'adilyunderdrawings.

reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the This frameis somewhat longer than the l of the truck frame 8 by means of bolts and diameter ofthe wheel 10 and its peripheralr teethor cogs and as is clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 20f the drawing, has its front end downwardly and forwardly inclined as shown at 15. The outer" front portion of the frame 13 is extended inwardly to near the verticallplane of the outer surface of the teeth 11 of the wheel 10, or inother words, tonear the inner side of'the rail 16on which the car wheel travels. From this inwardly or transversely extended portion 17 the front 1 part of the outer portion of the supporting frame 13 is extended forwardly and downwardly as at 18 and said extension 18 is provided with a transverseopening or hearing 19*for the shaft 20 of a cleaning YwheelQl which shaft is. also journaled in the front and downwardly inclined part of the inner side of the supporting frame. The wheel 21 is provided with a series of peripheral teeth 22 which are spaced apart in a proper way to mesh or engage with the teeth 11 of the car wheel. The teeth 22 on the wheel 21 are arranged with their front surfaces in about radial lines with the axis of the wheel so that in the revolution of said wheel in the direction of the arrow caused by the revolutioh of the car wheel in the direction of the arrow thereon, they will dig into and lift the accumulation of mud, dirt, ice and the like on the inner surface of the rails 16,

'. ber or portion'23 at the desired distance at its front or lower end from the upper surface of the rail.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the scraper or .blade 26 is angularly disposed with refer- "ence to the-rail so as to deflect and throw -therefrom any'substance or material lifted by the wheel 21' that might be deposited thereon. Furthermore, it will be seen and "understood by reference to said views of the dra'wing'that the -member or portion 23 as well as the front edge of the blade 26 or scraper is located near the upper surface of the rail so as to remove obstructions from 'the'latter. The blade or scraper 26 can be adjusted onits support or the member 23 by means vof a screw-bolt 25 and a nut thereon cooperating withthe slot 24 in said member.

The 'rear portion of the frame 13 is downwardly and rearwardly inclined as at 27 and has located in the rear portion of the slot 14 of said frame another cleaning wheel'28 V xwhich is provided with teeth 29 constructed 7 Wheel 21 and for a like purpose.

and arranged similarly as the teeth 22 on the g This wheel is mounted on a shaft 30 transversely journaledin the frame 13 near the rear end of I the slot or opening v1 1 between the sides of said frame and is so located as to operate near the inner surface of the rail 16 on which the 'car 'wheellO travels. p

The rear end of the downwardly and rear- 7 wardly inclined portion 27 of the frame 13 is provided with a rearward horizontal extension 31 to the lower surface of which is adjustably secured by means of screw-bolts v 32 extended through suitable openings in the 7 extension 31, the back 33 of a wire brush 3 1 the bristles of which are located at their lower ends against or in close proximity to the upper surface of the track rail.

The position of the brush 34; can be vertically adjusted by inserting between the back thereof and the extension 31 a shim of suitable thickness when it is apparent that the back 33 of the brush may be securely fastened in place on the extension 31 by turning the screws 32 in the proper direction.

A scraper or deflector 36 is mounted on the rear and inner portion of the supporting frame 13 so as to catch and throw from the rail 16 material dug up and lifted by the action of the teeth 29 of the cleaning wheel 28 on the rear portion of the supporting frame. While I have shown in the drawing the apparatus mounted on the truck frame of a car and have so described it, yet I desire it to be understood that the axle equipped with the wheels 10 and cleaning members can be mounted on a truck of a platform or vehicle of any suitable kind which can be caused to travel over the rails by any suitable means.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to cure by Letters Patent is 1. In a device of the class described, the combination with an axle transversely journaled on a suitable support, of a pair of wheels mounted on said axle and adapted for travel on a pair of parallel track rails, each of said wheels having spaced teeth at the inner portion of its periphery, a frame horizontally and longitudinally disposed with respect to said rails and located along the lower portion of each of said wheels, and a cleaning wheel rotatably mounted on the inner portion of each of said frames near one end thereof and having peripheral teeth in mesh with the teeth of the first named wheels.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination with an axle transversely journaled on a suitable support, of a pair of wheels mounted on said axle and adapted for travel on a pair of parallel track rails, each of said wheels having spaced teeth at the inner portion of its periphery, a frame horizontally and longitudinally disposed with respect to said rails and located along the lower portion of each of said wheels and having its front end extended forwardly thereof, and a cleaning wheel rotatably mounted on the inner portion of the forwardly extended end of each of said frames and having peripheral teeth in mesh with the teeth of the first named wheels. s 3. In a device of the class described, the combination with an axle transversely journaled on a suitable support, of a pair of wheels mounted on said axle and adapted for travel 011 a pair of parallel track rails, each of said wheels having spaced teeth at the inner portion of its periphery, a frame horizontally and longitudinally disposed with respect to said rails and located along the lower portion of each of said wheels, a cleaning wheel rotatably mounted on the inner portion of each of said frames near one end thereof and having peripheral teeth in mesh with the teeth of the first named wheels, and a blade angularly mounted on each of said frames outwardly of each of said cleaning wheels but adjacent thereto.

4:. In a device of the class described, the combination with an axle transversely journaled on a suitable support, of a pa1r of wheels mounted on said axle and adapted for travel on a pair of arallel track rails, each of said wheels having spaced teeth at the inner portion of its periphery, a frame horizontally and longitudinally disposed with respect to said rails and located along the lower portion of each of said wheels and having its ends extended forwardly and rearwardly thereof, a cleaning wheel rotatably mounted on the inner portion of the front and rearwardly extended parts respectively of each of said frames and having peripheral teeth in mesh with the teeth of the first named wheels.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination with an axle transversely journaled on a suitable support, of a pair of wheels mdunted on said axle and ada ted to travel on a pair of parallel track rai s, each of said wheels havlng sgaced teeth at the inner ortion of its perip ery, a frame horizontal y and longitudinally dis osed with respect to said rails and locate along the lower portion of each of said wheels and having its ends extended forwardl and rearwardly thereof, a cleaning whee rotatably mounted on the inner ortion of the front and rearwardly extende parts respectively of each of said frames and having peripheral teeth in mesh with the teeth of the first named wheels, a blade angularly mounted on the front end of each of said frames outwardly of each of' the cleaning wheels on the front arts of said frames but adjacent thereto, a eflecting member angularly mounted on the rear portion of each of said frames inwardly of the cleanin wheel on said rear portions, and a brus mounted on the lower surface of the rear portion of each of said frames.

AXEL WETTERVIK. 

